Bulk AlN Substrates Research Articles

High-voltage AlN Schottky barrier diodes on bulk AlN substrates by MOCVD

This letter reports the demonstration of Aluminum nitride (AIN) Schottky barrier diodes on bulk AlN substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor phase deposition with breakdown voltages exceeding 3 kV. The devices exhibited good rectifying characteristics with ON/OFF ratios of 106–108 and excellent thermal stability from 298 to 623 K. The device Schottky barrier height increased from 0.89 to 1.85 eV, and the ideality factor decreased from 4.29 to 1.95 with increasing temperature, ascribed to the inhomogeneous metal/AlN interface. This work demonstrates the potential of AlN as an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor for developing multi-kV AlN high-voltage and high-power devices.

An electron paramagnetic resonance study of the electron transport in heavily Si-doped high Al content AlxGa1−xN

High Al mole fraction AlGaN is an ultrawide bandgap semiconductor with potential applications in power electronics and deep UV detectors. Although n-type material is achievable with Si-doping, the role of Si is controversial, particularly for AlxGa1−xN with x > 0.8. For this paper, AlGaN films were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy onto bulk AlN substrates and doped with 1018–1020 cm−3 Si. We examine electron transport in heavily Si-doped AlxGa1−xN with x ≥ 0.65 using magnetic resonance, which allows us to probe the neutral donors directly rather than the free carriers and avoids complications due to electrical contacts. Transport was studied through the temperature-dependent linewidth of the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signature for the neutral donor. Analysis shows evidence of hopping conductivity in the most lightly doped samples and impurity band formation in the most heavily doped ones. The EPR results, which are consistent with Hall measurements performed on the same samples, are promising for the development of highly conducting high Al content AlGaN.

Ultrafast excitonic radiative recombination in Al-rich semipolar AlGaN quantum wells for far-UVC emitters

Ultrafast excitonic radiative recombination in Al-rich semipolar AlGaN quantum wells was characterized by photoluminescence and analyzed with a non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) model. The heterostructures consisted of Al0.69Ga0.31N/Al0.9Ga0.1N multiple quantum wells grown on (202¯1) bulk AlN substrates by MOVPE. The quantum wells were 3 nm thick, separated by 10-nm thick barrier layers, and possessed a low (<100 kV/cm) polarization field. Radiative lifetimes as low as ∼60 ps were recorded at 75 K. Experimental results validated the NEGF model, which incorporated excitons and free carriers and enabled calculation of the radiative lifetimes for different growth planes, temperatures, and carrier densities. Including intersubband scattering in the NEGF model significantly reduced the calculated radiative lifetimes for QW widths larger than the Bohr radius of the excitons in semipolar and nonpolar orientations, for which the polarization field is reduced or eliminated. These wide wells with low polarization fields and high radiative recombination are less susceptible to the deleterious effects of alloy and interface fluctuations, making them an attractive possibility for future devices.

Excitonic and deep-level emission from N- and Al-polar homoepitaxial AlN grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Using low-temperature cathodoluminescence spectroscopy, we study the properties of N- and Al-polar AlN layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on bulk AlN{0001}. Compared with the bulk AlN substrate, layers of both polarities feature a suppression of deep-level luminescence, a total absence of the prevalent donor with an exciton binding energy of 28 meV, and a much increased intensity of the emission from free excitons. The dominant donor in these layers is characterized by an associated exciton binding energy of 13 meV. The observation of excited exciton states up to the exciton continuum allows us to directly extract the Γ5 free exciton binding energy of 57 meV.

Al0.64Ga0.36N channel MOSHFET on single crystal bulk AlN substrate

We report MOCVD-grown Al0.87Ga0.13N/Al0.64Ga0.36N metal-oxide-semiconductor-heterojunction-field-effect-transistors on single crystal bulk AlN substrate. As compared to control devices on AlN template, thermal impedance for devices on single crystal AlN decreased to 1/3 from 31 to 10 K mm W−1, comparable to SiC and copper heat-sinks. This represents a significant thermo-electric co-design advantage over other semiconductors. As a result, the peak drain saturation current increased from 410 to 610 mAmm−1. A 3-terminal breakdown field of 3.7 MV cm−1 was measured, which to date represents state-of-the-art performance for devices with similar Al x Ga1−x N-channel composition. This translates to a measured Baliga figure of merit of 460 MWcm−2.

Influence of growth rate on homoepitaxial growth of AlN at 1450 °C by hydride vapor phase epitaxy

The influence of growth rate on the homoepitaxial growth of AlN at 1450 °C by hydride vapor phase epitaxy on bulk AlN(0001) substrates was studied. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy revealed that high structural quality comparable to that of the initial substrate can be achieved even when the growth rate is increased to over 150 μm h−1. Although the concentration of Si impurities increased with increasing growth rate, a freestanding AlN substrate prepared from a homoepitaxial layer grown at 155.6 μm h−1 showed a steep optical absorption edge at 207 nm and high optical transmittance at longer wavelengths.

Molecular beam homoepitaxy of N-polar AlN on bulk AlN substrates

N-polar AlN epilayers were grown on the N-face of single-crystal bulk AlN substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. A combination of in situ thermal deoxidation and Al-assisted thermal desorption at high temperature aided in removing native surface oxides and impurities from the N-polar surface of the substrate enabling successful homoepitaxy. Subsequent epitaxial growth of the AlN layer on the in situ cleaned substrates, grown in a sufficiently high Al droplet regime, exhibited smooth surface morphologies with clean and wide atomic steps. KOH etch studies confirmed the N-polarity of the homoepitaxial films. Secondary ion mass spectrometry profiles show Si and H impurity concentrations below the noise levels, whereas O and C impurity concentrations of ∼8×1017 and ∼2×1017 atoms/cm3 are observed, respectively. Although the structural defect densities are low, they interestingly appear as inversion domains of different dimensionalities.

Polarization-induced 2D hole gases in pseudomorphic undoped GaN/AlN heterostructures on single-crystal AlN substrates

A high-conductivity two-dimensional (2D) hole gas is the enabler of wide-bandgap p-channel transistors. Compared to commonly used AlN template substrates with high dislocation densities, the recently available single-crystal AlN substrates are promising to boost the speed and power handling capability of p-channel transistors based on GaN/AlN 2D hole gases (2DHGs) thanks to the much lower dislocation densities and the absence of thermal boundary resistance. Using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy, we report the observation of polarization-induced high-density 2DHGs in undoped pseudomorphic GaN/AlN heterostructures on the single-crystal AlN substrates with high structural quality and atomic steps on the surface. The high-density 2DHG persists down to cryogenic temperatures with a record high mobility exceeding 280 cm2/V s and a density of 2.2 × 1013/cm2 at 10 K. These results shed light on aspects of improving 2D hole mobilities and indicate significant potential of GaN/AlN 2DHG grown on bulk AlN substrates for future high performance wide-bandgap p-channel transistors.

Thick AlN Templates By MOCVD for the Thermal Management of III-N Electronics

Ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors have attracted much interest over the last decade. These materials have strong chemical bonding that led to high temperature tolerance, high voltage and power handling capabilities as described by the Baliga figure of merit. Al-rich III-nitride materials are expected to have the best performance over the industry standard Si, and newer options such as SiC and GaN. Continuous improvements dictate the miniaturization of electronic devices, leading to increasingly higher power densities in smaller footprints, leading to heating that causes system failure. Thus, the thermal management is the limiting task for continuous performance scaling. In past we have reported on deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes (LEDs) and AlxGa1-xN (x>0.4) channel Heterojunction Field-Effect Transistors (HFETs) on 2-3 µm thick MOCVD grown high quality AlN/sapphire templates. For template thicknesses over 5 µm either sapphire or AlN patterning is needed to avoid stress related cracking. In this research, we for the first-time report on the direct MOCVD growth and characterization of crack-free, low-impurity AlN templates in excess of 16 μm on basal plane sapphire substrates without doing any external processing. Increasing the thickness improves thermal management and enables an easier sapphire substrate’s laser liftoff for increased DUV light extraction. It would also be used as a heat spreader in power electronics to minimize the operating temperature to maximize power output to industrial loads such as electric vehicles, and large turbines in manufacturing and transportation.All growths were carried out in custom MOCVD reactors with a fast-metalorganic switching manifold using a modified epitaxy procedure in which the Al- and N-precursors (Trimethyl Aluminum and NH3) are pulsed for increased surface mobility. At the initial pulsed growth stage, the growth-temperature and precursor-flow rates are adjusted to yield air-pocketed (voids) rough AlN layers. Most of these high defect materials are located near the AlN/sapphire interface. As the AlN thickness increases in the subsequent growths, the layers turned out smooth and the number of defects is significantly reduced due to dislocation bending/annihilation and cracking is avoided due to strain relief from the voids at the interface. All template growths were carried out at temperatures ~ 1200 - 1300 °C and 40 torr.From X-ray diffraction (XRD), Reciprocal space map (RSM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis of these thick AlN templates, we established that they were fully relaxed. Cross-section TEM data clearly shows the presence of voids at ~ 0.4 – 0.9 μm from the AlN/sapphire interface. There is a high density of dislocations present near the void region. Above this region, at least one order of magnitude lower dislocations is observed at the AlN smooth layer region. From the room-temperature Cathodoluminescence (CL) data we see an increase in the band edge emission and a decrease in the defect related long-wavelength signal with increasing AlN template thicknesses. The CL spectra were measured in the edge emission pump geometry on cleaved bars due to the transverse-magnetic polarized nature of the band-edge emission. The monochromatic CL imaging data also confirmed a highly defective region at the AlN/sapphire interface which is also the origin of the long wavelength (below bandgap) CL emission. The Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) surface scans of the templates showed the surface roughness ~ 0.15 nm to 0.25 nm (for a 5 µm x 5 µm scan). The (102) off axis X-ray linewidths for all these samples ranged from 280 to 330 arc-secs. XRD and Raman experiments confirmed a residual compressive strain in AlN templates compared to the bulk sample. The measured stress ranges from -0.6 GPa to -1.2 GPa for all the templates, reasonable agreement with previous reports. We have found no obvious thickness dependence of the stresses measured from both XRD and Raman, an indication of preserving similar stresses in thick and thin templates.The thermal conductivity of our high-quality 16 µm thick template and the bulk AlN are measured at different temperatures by Time-domain Thermoreflectance (TDTR) technique. The thermal conductivity of the thick AlN at room temperature is 320 Wm-1K-1, or ~10% higher than that of the bulk AlN (~285 W/m-K). At low temperatures (120 K), it exceeds that of bulk AlN by more than 40%. In summary, these templates showed thermal conductivity as high or better than high-cost bulk AlN substrates, demonstrating for the first time that sapphire-based power electronics could be effectively managed thermally. Figure 1

Surface control and MBE growth diagram for homoepitaxy on single-crystal AlN substrates

The evolution of surface morphology for single-crystal bulk Al-polar aluminum nitride substrates during ex situ cleaning, in situ cleaning, and subsequent homoepitaxy is investigated. Ex situ acid treatment is found to reveal atomic steps on the bulk AlN substrates. After in situ Al-assisted cleaning at high temperatures in a high vacuum environment monitored with reflection high-energy electron diffraction, cleaner atomic step edges are observed. Subsequent growth on the cleaned bulk AlN by molecular beam epitaxy is used to develop a phase-diagram for homoepitaxy on AlN single crystals. Secondary ion mass spectrometry profiles reveal high-purity epitaxial layers with undesired chemical impurity densities of Si, O, and C to be below detection limits. The grown homoepitaxial films are observed to oxidize in the ambient environment, but repeating the ex situ acid treatment again reveals atomic steps.

Normally-off AlN/β-Ga2O3 field-effect transistors using polarization-induced doping

III-nitrides and beta-phase gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) are currently two intensively investigated wide bandgap semiconductor materials for power electronics. Due to the relatively low lattice mismatch between the two material systems and the availability of bulk AlN, GaN and β-Ga2O3 substrates, epitaxial growth of III-nitrides on β-Ga2O3 or vice versa has been realized. However, the design of power devices by integrating the two material systems is still lacking. Here we numerically investigate an AlN/β-Ga2O3 heterostructure by taking advantage of polarization-induced doping to realize high-performance enhancement-mode transistors. Induced by polarization effects at the AlN/β-Ga2O3 interface, a 2-dimensional electron gas concentration can reach up to 8.1 × 1019 cm−3 in the channel. On top of the channel, a p-GaN gate was introduced and eventually a normally-off AlN/β-Ga2O3 field-effect transistor with tunable positive threshold voltages was realized. Furthermore, we inserted an unintentionally doped GaN back barrier layer to suppress the drain leakage current. Eventually, the transfer and output characteristics of the proposed device with different structural parameters were further investigated and analyzed in the pursuit of high-performance III-nitrides/Ga2O3-based power devices.

Hydride vapor phase epitaxy of Si-doped AlN layers using SiCl4 as a doping gas

Growth of Si-doped AlN layers by hydride vapor phase epitaxy on AlN/sapphire templates prepared by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy and bulk AlN substrates prepared by physical vapor transport was investigated using silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) as a doping gas. On the AlN/sapphire templates, when the SiCl4 supply was low, the incorporation ratio of Si decreased due to the influence of O impurities resulting from the decomposition of the sapphire. In addition, pits were formed on the surfaces, and the pit density increased significantly at Si concentrations exceeding 2 × 1019 cm−3. In contrast, on the bulk AlN substrates, the Si concentration increased linearly with increasing SiCl4 supply, and a pit- and stress-free layer could be grown with a Si concentration as high as 6.5 × 1019 cm−3. Hall effect measurements revealed that this layer exhibited n-type conductivity with a donor activation energy of 253 meV. However, the carrier density at room temperature (RT) was as low as 3.6 × 1013 cm−3 because of the high compensation ratio due to the presence of acceptors. A broad peak centered at 3.3 eV was observed in the RT photoluminescence spectra of the Si-doped AlN layers grown on the bulk AlN substrates, indicating that Al vacancies formed by the Fermi level effect due to Si doping acted as acceptors that compensated for carriers.

Experimental observation of high intrinsic thermal conductivity of AlN

AlN is an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor which has been developed for applications including power electronics and optoelectronics. Thermal management of these applications is the key for stable device performance and allowing for long lifetimes. AlN, with its potentially high thermal conductivity, can play an important role serving as a dielectric layer, growth substrate, and heat spreader to improve device performance. However, the intrinsic high thermal conductivity of bulk AlN predicted by theoretical calculations has not been experimentally observed because of the difficulty in producing materials with low vacancy and impurity levels, and other associated defect complexes in AlN which can decrease the thermal conductivity. This work reports the growth of thick AlN layers by MOCVD with an air-pocketed AlN layer and the first experimental observation of intrinsic thermal conductivity from 130 K to 480 K that matches density-function-theory calculations for single crystal AlN, producing some of the highest values ever measured. Detailed material characterizations confirm the high quality of these AlN samples with one or two orders of magnitude lower impurity concentrations than seen in commercially available bulk AlN. Measurements of these commercially available bulk AlN substrates from 80 K to 480 K demonstrated a lower thermal conductivity, as expected. A theoretical thermal model is built to interpret the measured temperature dependent thermal conductivity. Our work demonstrates that it is possible to obtain theoretically high values of thermal conductivity in AlN and such films may impact the thermal management and reliability of future electronic and optoelectronics devices.

BAlGaN alloys nearly lattice-matched to AlN for efficient UV LEDs

The lattice mismatch between AlGaN and AlN substrates limits the design and efficiency of UV light-emitting diodes, but it can be mitigated by the coincorporation of boron. We employ hybrid density functional theory to investigate the thermodynamic, structural, and electronic properties of BAlGaN alloys. We show that BAlGaN can lattice match AlN with bandgaps that match AlGaN of the same gallium content. We predict that BAlGaN emits transverse-electric polarization for a gallium content of ∼45% or more. Our results indicate that BAlGaN alloys are promising materials for higher efficiency UV optoelectronic devices on bulk AlN substrates.

A contrivance of 277 nm DUV LD with B0.313Ga0.687N/B0.40Ga0.60N QWs and AlxGa1–xN heterojunction grown on AlN substrate

In this paper, an ultraviolet C-band laser diode lasing at 277 nm composed of B0.313Ga0.687N/B0.40Ga0.60N QW/QB heterostructure on Mg and Si-doped AlxGa1–xN layers was designed, as well as a lowest reported substitutional accepter and donor concentration up to NA = 5.0 × 1017 cm–3 and ND = 9.0 × 1016 cm–3 for deep ultraviolet lasing was achieved. The structure was assumed to be grown over bulk AlN substrate and operate under a continuous wave at room temperature. Although there is an emphasizing of the suitability for using boron nitride wide band gap in the deep ultraviolet region, there is still a shortage of investigation about the ternary BGaN in aluminum-rich AlGaN alloys. Based on the simulation, an average local gain in quantum wells of 1946 cm–1, the maximum emitted power of 2.4 W, the threshold current of 500 mA, a slope efficiency of 1.91 W/A as well as an average DC resistance for the V–I curve of (0.336 Ω) had been observed. Along with an investigation regarding different EBL, designs were included with tapered and inverse tapered structure. Therefore, it had been found a good agreement with the published results for tapered EBL design, with an overweighting for a proposed inverse tapered EBL design.

(Invited) Advances in Ion Implantation of GaN and AlN

Ion implantation is one of the basic tools for semiconductor device fabrication and as such any maturing semiconductor system should be capable of being processed in this form. Currently, III-nitrides dot not possess a robust ion implantation toolbox that allows for reliable implantation control and activation, thus precluding the possibility of pursuing advanced device architectures comparable to those in SiC. This is obvious when trying to advance the capabilities of the III-nitrides for power applications, where the need for proper field managing schemes require spatially distributed doping distributions that can be achieved by ion implantation. Recent advances in ion implantation for the realization n-type AlN and p-type GaN will be discussed. AlN is considered for deep-UV optoelectronics and next generation high power devices due to its ultra wide bandgap. So far, n-type AlN has been achieved by doping with silicon during epitaxial growth. However, achieving high conductivity in n-type AlN is still a major challenge due to self-compensation via DX and vacancy complex formation at equilibrium. This has made it necessary to consider other non-equilibrium based doping methods, such as ion implantation. In this work, doping AlN by Si implantation is considered. Si implantation was realized into AlN homoepitaxial films grown on bulk AlN substrates via metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Samples were implanted with doses ranging between 5x1013and 1x1015cm-2at 100 keV at RT. Although high-temperature annealing is necessary for damage removal, it enables compensating defect formation by vacancy-silicon complex formation favorable at equilibrium as observed in MOCVD grown AlN. Hence point defect control is necessary during annealing. We further demonstrate defect quasi Fermi level (dQFL) control based compensating point defect reduction in Si implanted AlN during damage recovery. Thus, the highest reported n-type conductivity in AlN was achieved. These results show a possible pathway for the realization of n-type AlN for future optoelectronic and power electronic devices. GaN-based high power switches are a promising avenue towards realizing advances in power management. Controlling the selective area doping of both n- and p-type regions is necessary to realize these device structures. Although high n-type carrier concentrations and conductivities in GaN have been reproducibly demonstrated, achieving high p-type conductivity after ion implantation remains a challenge. To prevent the surface decomposition during annealing at these elevated temperatures required for post-implantation anneals, previous efforts have focused on the use of capping layers (e.g. AlN) and/or complicated annealing procedures. In this work we demonstrate the ability to successfully achieve p-type conductivity in GaN films via room temperature Mg implantation and a post-implantation annealing procedure at high pressure (1 GPa). The highest recorded p-type conductivity (~0.1 Ω-1·cm-1) was measured on the Mg implanted GaN film grown on a sapphire substrate and annealed at 1300 °C and 1 GPa. The implantation and annealing conditions that resulted in the highest p-type conductivity were selected to fabricate p-i-njunction diodes by Mg implantation in n-type GaN grown homoepitaxially on Ammono wafers. All these results support the possibility of realizing successful ion implantation in III-nitrides adding to the growing toolbox of capabilities for this technology.

Impact of metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy growth conditions on compressive strain relaxation in polar III-nitride heterostructures

A novel approach to estimating the critical thicknesses (CTs) of compressively strained III-nitride layers is suggested, based on a quasi-thermodynamic growth model and accounted for the effect of material decomposition during dislocation half-loop formation on the CT value. The approach provides good quantitative agreement with available data on CTs of MOVPE-grown InGaN/GaN and AlGaN/AlN epilayers. The extremely large CTs observed for high Al-content AlGaN alloys grown on bulk AlN substrates may be attributed, in particular, to the dominant AlGaN decomposition mechanism, producing group-III metallic liquid and gaseous nitrogen. The suggested approach may also be helpful for analysis of threading dislocation inclination in compressively strained layers and applicable to studying point defect formation in semiconductors and its dependence on growth conditions.

Highly radiative nature of ultra-thin c-plane Al-rich AlGaN/AlN quantum wells for deep ultraviolet emitters

Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) lifetimes were measured for a series of ultra-thin c-plane Al0.61Ga0.39N/AlN multiple quantum wells (QWs) on bulk AlN substrates with the well thickness varying from 0.6 to 2 nm. At temperatures below 75 K, estimates of the internal quantum efficiency indicate that the recombination is primarily radiative, with a lifetime of ∼160 ps for the 0.6 nm QWs, comparable to the low temperature PL lifetime observed in bulk AlGaN films of a similar Al content. This short lifetime is observed despite the presence of layer thickness fluctuations and the quantum-confined Stark effect associated with the large polarization field in the heterostructures, which tend to increase the radiative lifetime. This behavior is explained using many-body calculations of radiative recombination rates that extend beyond the conventional ABC rate equation model by accounting for both excitons and free carriers within a nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. The results indicate that the combination of the large wave function overlap integral (∼0.65) and exciton binding energy (1.82 times the 3D Rydberg) for the 0.6 nm QWs leads to an ∼20-fold increase in the radiative recombination rate relative to that obtained for the 2 nm QWs. This greater radiative recombination rate competes favorably with trapping at interface fluctuations and defect-induced nonradiative recombination that dominates recombination at higher temperatures.

Crystal defect analysis in AlN layers grown by MOVPE on bulk AlN

MOVPE growth of AlN layers on bulk AlN substrates with low threading dislocation density (<105 cm−2) can result in enhanced defect formation. Chemo-mechanical polishing (CMP) of bulk AlN using colloidal silica sol can produce locally disturbed surface with SiOx residuals. These surface disturbances lead to generation of threading dislocations (∼108 cm−2) in homoepitaxially grown AlN layers. These dislocations show a tendency to form nano- and even micropipes, which may be associated with oxygen accumulation along the dislocation lines. As result, the subsequently grown AlGaN-based layer structures exhibit a high number of v-pits and micropipes. Inductively coupled plasma etching of AlN substrate surface prior to MOVPE growth results in clean AlN surfaces and improves the AlGaN layer quality.

Fast Growth of Smooth AlN in a 3 × 2″ Showerhead‐Type Vertical Flow MOVPE Reactor

The conditions required for a high growth rate of AlN in a 3 × 2″ showerhead‐type vertical flow metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) reactor are studied. It is found that at the standard growth conditions (low V/III, 50 mbar, 1110 °C, H2), the growth rate linearly increases with the trimethylaluminium (TMAl) flow rate until about 280 μmol min−1 with some drop of precursor utilization efficiency at higher pressures. While the pre‐reaction of TMAl with NH3 at 140 μmol min−1 of TMAl is still not a major issue, it is not possible, however, to maintain a smooth AlN surface morphology during this “fast” growth. To suppress the surface morphology deterioration, the growth pressure requires optimization. An increase of the growth pressure, to 75 mbar, is found to be critical to grow 20+ μm of smooth AlN at a rate of about 3.6 μm h−1 on bulk AlN substrates.